Research is the process of symmetrically gathering information that will provide the basis to establish an understanding of situations and issues and make sense of them.
Research theory as a basis for practice
- The hierarchy of effects model - deriving from advertising profession, leading people from knowing nothing about a product to becoming a customer.
- When and how public relations practitioners use research
Qualitative research provides an indepth understanding of issues, whereas quantitative research provides statistics and trends. Qualitative research: focus group, discussion group to ask people's opinion about a particular issue. Quantitative research: questionnaire, survey to get how many people agree or disagree on a particular issue.
When we use research? Research is relevant at all stages of public relations planning and implementation; before, during and after an event/a campaign.
- Research at the before or input stage
The public relations plan is the practitioner's working theory of what has to be done to achieve a desired outcome. Research at the start do not only provides good information to build an effective program, but it also enables you to set specific and measurable objectives that you will be able to evaluate against later in the program.
As a practitioner, we need to:
1. Identify the problem, issue or opportunity
2. Identify the audience
3. Understand the audience
4. Establish the ethical consideration
5. Understand and measure public opinion
6. Set objectives and establish targets for what the program will achieve
7. Establish the benchmarks
8. Determine strategy, tactics, messages, and communication channels.
- Research at the output or implementation stage
Research on this stage focuses on monitoring the action and implementation of the plan to check that we are doing as designed, and look for early signs of success or any need to fine tune or redirect the program.
- Research at the impact or outcome stage
The impact or outcome stage is where the impact becomes visible and can be assessed, and where it is evaluated to find out whether the objectives were achieved.
Example of a good research PR campaign
Southbank Institute of TAFE operates in an industry that has recently included private training providers aggressively marketing their training products therefore decreasing marketshare for traditional training providers.
In this competitive industry, it was essential Southbank Institute had a clearly defined image. An analysis of the current image revealed that while students perceived the Institute to be cool, the promotional materials were inconsistent and of low quality.
Southbank Institute originally approached Media Link to devise an enrolment campaign. The image created for the campaign was so successful; it was decided to re-interpret it for both internal and external markets.
The re-interpretation of the brand image occurred through the development of a Style Guide, which outlined the various colours, shapes and icons, Southbank Institute for use in its promotional materials for retaining consistency.
The results revealed:
- Southbank Institute has a cohesive and highly recognisable image
- Southbank Institute employees understand the importance of keeping up the image
- The materials developed have had a strong impact on the target markets:
- students: 6,000 calls in five weeks
- international: postcard sellout
- corporate: client base expanding
The communications program developed for the Southbank Institute was research driven. Initial external research set the parameters for the strategy and it was refined, improved and evaluated based on ongoing research.
The research conducted before, during and after the program included:
- Schools Research - Focus Groups with 9 high schools and covering 80 students
- Parent Research - Focus Groups/Interviews with 15 parents/Guidance Councillors and Teachers
- Web Research - What were other training providers doing?
- Press Research - What magazines/newspapers were interesting to the primary target market
- Radio Research - To what was our target market listening
- TV/Cinema Research - Were our Target Market Cinema goers/TV Watchers?
- Internal Perceptions Research - Interviews/Focus Groups with 25 internal staff members
- Communication Materials Audit - Assessed all the communication tools of the Institute
- Competitor Research - Media Link obtained the promotional material of other TAFEs in the Brisbane metropolitan area and provided an evaluation
- Background Industry Research - State of the industry / size of the market / number of providers
- Internal Systems Research - Tracked incoming calls and assessed the internal delivery of information to callers
Issues with public relations research
- Budget -there is sometimes pressure to spend the money on program activities rather than research
- Doing research only once - sometimes the response to a limited budget is to do the research once, report current status and be satisfied with it.
- Research as a low priority
- Speed of activity and pressure to move on to next project
- Make sure you understand the sampling
:) woah, looking at the long list of research Southbank Institute of TAFE has done, i guess it's pretty hard work isnt it? well, the effort into research has definitely paid off, really well.
ReplyDeletei feel that another limitation to public relations research is that the every-changing world requires new elements to be injected in new PR activities, while research are merely showing you how the successful past events are managed and basically guide u on the 'correct' approach to some issues...
But i think research is basically to give PR practitioners some insights to develop an appropriate strategy. It is not only how past events are managed. I think research will, for example, give some insights on to what extent people Singapore know about professional organizing. From those insights, we can propose a good PR strategy for OCD Services.
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